Chapter Text
Part 1: The Hybrid Mistake
POV: Storm
The first thing Storm learned growing up was that he wasn’t meant to exist. He was a mistake. An error in biology that couldn’t be possible. Shouldn’t be. Yet here he was.
He was a hybrid dragon, something already so rare across Pyrrhia, but both of his biological parents were male. They couldn’t have brought his egg into the world, but he was still here anyway.
To make matters worse, he was a mix of a SandWing and an IceWing. Two tribes that should not have mixed. His biology backed up that idea. His body was constantly fighting itself to regulate his own temperature, and he had no natural weapons. No fire breath, no ice breath, and no poison barb at the end of his tail. At most he could breathe a puff of mist, and that often took a lot out of him.
Which was why his parents agreed to raise him in Sanctuary, a town where those who didn’t fit in could live together. He didn’t believe he fit in with these dragons either.
As a result, he stayed to himself in his home. Originally it was just his father, Winter’s home, but his other father, Qibli, had to move in to raise Storm. He saw Qibli much less often than Winter because he had duties in the Kingdom of Sand to the west.
Winter spent much of his time with the humans, researching about them and working with them day and night. He was allowed to visit him whenever, but refrained from doing so because he preferred not having to interact with the other dragons.
Qibli and Winter loved him very much, and they taught him everything he could need to know. Qibli taught him strategy, survival, and how to hunt while Winter taught him manners and etiquette, history, and biology. He hated learning about biology because much of it didn’t apply to him, and only made him feel more like a mistake.
He never told Winter that, though.
Today he was moping in his bed, like he did at least every other day for the past six years or so. Why do I exist? My parents didn’t bring my egg into this world. So who did? And why did they think it would be funny to torment me by making me this way? A SandWing and an IceWing. Fire and ice. Both competing to win out over the other, only it’s my own body and I have to handle the consequences.
He looked over at the small device on his desk. A temperature stabilizer, as his parents referred to it. It had two settings, hot and cold. His father, Winter, helped work with other smart minds across both Pyrrhia and Pantala to make it for him. He couldn’t remember any of the names of the other dragons who helped design it, with the exception of Starflight. He was supposedly a blind NightWing that stayed at the Jade Mountain Academy nearby as the librarian.
He picked up the device and rotated it in his talons. He used it whenever his internal temperature started fluctuating to keep himself in balance. His parents always told him to keep it with him at all times whenever he left Sanctuary.
Storm had never left Sanctuary, however. His parents were a tad overprotective whenever it came to him leaving his home. Even if they weren’t in the house, they still made sure he stayed in Sanctuary. He wanted so bad to see the outside world, to see if somewhere out there, maybe there was another dragon like him.
“Storm! Could you come down to the living room?”
It was Qibli. Storm stepped off his bed, laying the device on the nightstand. “Coming!” He called back. As he made his way downstairs, he spotted his fathers packing their belongings into bags.
“Storm! There you are,” Winter started, “We have important news to share with you. You might have noticed the bags here.” He made a gesture to them with one of his wings. “Qibli and I are going to be leaving. We have an important meeting with Queen Thorn and Queen Snowfall. We’ll be gone for a few days and we thought you should know.”
“We won’t be gone too long, okay? Just remember what all we’ve taught you and stay in Sanctuary. Got it?” Qibli asked.
Storm nodded. “Not that I’m really going anywhere. I’ll probably just go back to sulking in my room.”
Winter stepped up to him, placing a talon on his shoulder. “Storm, we really need to have a talk about all this ‘sulking’ and ‘brooding’ you do. It’s not good for you.”
“Aren’t those things you’re an expert in, Winter?” Qibli teased. “Not like you to tell someone else to not do those things."
“Quiet, cactus-licker!” He turned back to Storm. “When we get back, we’re discussing this behavior of yours. Keep that in mind.” He turned to the door, bags in tow. “We’ll see you when we get back.”
“Don’t just sit in your room, go out and talk to someone. The other dragons here are quite nice once you get to know them. Trust me, I have experience with that.”
Winter only glared at Qibli before they both stepped outside and took off to the Kingdom of Sand.
Storm watched them take off, becoming nothing but small specks in the sky. He turned back around and returned to his room. For a while he sat and contemplated. He didn’t exactly feel like going out to talk with the other dragons. He began pacing around his room.
I have to do something. I can’t just sit here all day and complain. Maybe I should go talk to other dragons. Or maybe I could go hunting in the woods nearby. Or what if… A thought crossed his mind. What if I explored outside of Sanctuary?
Storm’s parents had never both been completely away from Sanctuary as far as he remembered, so this was a perfect opportunity to see at least some of the world outside.
I’d leave for just a moment. No longer than it would take me to circle around the town.
He grabbed a pouch and slipped it on around his neck. He stuffed the temperature stabilizer inside, and headed out. He passed by a few dragons on his way to the edge of town. Most of them were a little startled by his presence, mostly because he rarely left his house.
At the edge of town, he stood on the ledge overlooking the desert. His parents were currently down there somewhere, making their way to a meeting.
Storm had no time to think about that as he soared into the air. His wings were a bit unsteady due to his lack of flying training. Nevertheless, he began soaring around the town. It was much easier to see the entire town from above. The forest nearby was quite a bit smaller than he thought, but maybe it was the distance that made it seem that way. The Claws of the Cloud Mountains towered above the town from the east and north, and the desert stretched massively to the west. Glancing northwest, Storm thought he could almost see the distant cliffs of the Ice Kingdom.
He circled back to the forest, almost crashing through the trees as he tried to land carefully. It was fairly early in the morning, but he was still hungry. He stalked around in the tall grass, hoping to catch something to eat. His bright pale scales made it difficult to hide effectively, so most things ran away and hid.
Grass rustled nearby, and he quickly pounced on it, talons outstretched. He closed them in on something small and furry. When he looked to see what he caught, he was a little disappointed to see he only caught a small rodent.
Hunting is a lot harder when I’m the only one doing it. This’ll have to do for now. I’ll come back later.
He took his small catch back with him to the ledge overlooking the desert. It definitely wasn’t enough to satisfy his hunger, but his wings ached too much to want to hunt anymore.
Past the ledge below him the land sloped lower and lower until it reached the desert. Small forests dotted the hills.
He looked out over the distant sands of the Kingdom of Sand. Had he been born a true SandWing, he would have been perfectly able to soar above those skies. No fear of being bullied for being half ice. No concern that his internal temperature would try to freeze him solid midair.
If he were an IceWing, however, he could soar above the beautiful snowy landscape up north and explore the Ice Palace. Not worried about overheating and melting everything. Not being judged for being “impure” and an “abomination.”
He wasn’t sure which he’d prefer. Really I’d just prefer to be anything I wasn’t right now. A mistake. A biological error.
Distant shouting brought him out of his thoughts. It was coming from one of the forests down the slope. He knew he should stay up here, near Sanctuary. My fathers would prefer I stay out of whatever that is. But curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself flying down towards the forests closer to the shouting.
He flew up into the small canopy, finding a large tree he could hide in to listen to the dragons. He was afraid of his bright scales being too visible, but there wasn’t much he could do.
He listened in, and heard a few voices. Three different ones.
“What are we expecting to find out here, Cactus?” One of the voices asked.
SandWings! Storm realized.
“Hopefully something new that isn’t common in the desert.” Said a second voice, supposedly Cactus. “Dragons will buy near about anything in the Scorpion Den. You just have to go looking in strange places to find that exotic something. You’re here to help find me something, Flint.”
“But are you sure that we’ll find anything here? So close to that new Sanctuary town?” Said the third voice.
“We will find something here, Oleander. That’s a guarantee. My instincts tell me something interesting will be found here. I’ve even heard rumors that they’re hiding something in Sanctuary."
Hiding something? Storm thought. They couldn’t mean me, right? I don’t know of anything else they’re hiding here. Dragons wouldn’t sell other dragons for profit, would they? Storm hoped not.
Just in case, he’d stay hidden in the tree until he was sure they were gone. He couldn’t let them see him spying on them. He didn’t want them to see he was a hybrid either, to be fair.
The crunching of grass beneath talons was growing closer, and Storm was getting nervous. When he saw gold scales appear from behind a large bush, he panicked, but tried to stay calm.
Then one of his talons slipped off the branch he was holding, and he tumbled all the way down, hitting several more branches during his fall. He slammed against the ground with a heavy thud.
It felt as if half of his bones were broken, even though he knew they weren’t.
“Oh, what’s this?” The SandWing chirped. “A spy watching us from the trees?”
Storm forced himself back up, facing the SandWing. The other two stepped up behind him. He had to think of a lie. What might they do if they found out he was spying on them? “No, I was just–hunting here. It’s easier to find stuff when the prey can’t see you in the trees above them.”
“Hey, look at his scales!” Flint cried, pointing a claw at Storm. “He looks a little weird, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he’s not a regular IceWing, he might be part SandWing, too.” Oleander added. “Bet he doesn’t even have frostbreath.”
“I do have frostbreath!” Storm lied. “You wouldn’t want to see me use it, would you?”
“I would, actually. Not on us, of course. I’ve never seen a dragon use frostbreath this close before.” Cactus said.
Storm’s heart sank. He couldn’t fake frostbreath. They’d find out he’s really a hybrid and do something terrible with that. But he couldn’t just say no at this point.
“I’d rather not. It takes a lot out of me. Some IceWings are just better at using it.” Storm hoped that would be good enough.
“Sounds like you’re either a coward, or you’re hiding the fact that you can’t.” Cactus made a gesture to his fellow SandWings, and they started rummaging through their bags.
“Wait! What are you doing? Can’t a dragon hunt in peace?” Storm started backing away, hitting the tree behind him.
Flint and Oleander both pulled out a coil of rope from each of their bags.
In a panic, Storm inhaled as much as he could, breathing out a misty cloud to blind the SandWings. He took off running in what he hoped was the direction of Sanctuary. Unfortunately, breathing out the mist left him tired and weak.
He stumbled on an exposed tree root, and before he could get back up, he was pinned under the weight of two large SandWings.
Storm tried to fight back, clawing at them and missing, failing to slam his tail against them. He tried but failed to reach and bite them.
A talon shoved his snout into the dirt. More talons quickly wrapped up his snout in ropes, rendering him unable to shout for help.
More ropes were tied around his talons, and his wings were bound to his sides.
He was trapped. Unable to escape from his new captors, the SandWings. What were they planning to do with him?
“Told you we’d find something out here!” Cactus shouted. “I know some dragons that would be very willing to pay a hefty price for a dragon like him. If Burn was still around, I know she’d gladly take him and put him in that weird tower she had.”
“The Scorpion Den is probably the best place to find that kind of dragon.” Oleander added.
The Scorpion Den. Storm had only heard of it through the many stories his father, Qibli, shared. It was a nasty place for any dragon to go, especially since Queen Thorn and her Outclaws were no longer there to look over it, as Qibli had once said. It was full of lowlifes, criminals, and some of the shadiest dragons in Pyrrhia.
Qibli had some bad memories of his family there that he often wanted to forget. Storm couldn’t imagine wanting to visit it, even in a normal context. But now he was a captive and possibly about to be sold to some terrible dragon that would do who knows what to him.
“Let’s get this freak over there then. We should be there by late afternoon if we’re quick.”
Freak. Storm was used to considering himself a freak and a mistake, but to hear it from a complete stranger still hurt.
Cactus leaned down to face Storm. “You’re not going to see your home for a long time, you freak of nature.”